The Chariot & Cancer
As we continue to journey through the Major Arcana we reach Key 7, The Chariot. The Chariot overlays with Cancer, the 4th sign in the Astrological Zodiac. Cancer, the Archetypal Mother - how quite does this relate to the (very chill) Chariot driver and his sphinxes in the image from the Rider-Waite deck? I personally need to go back to the elements and modalities for a moment. Cancer is a water sign, which rule the worlds of pain, healing, and transformation of our inner worlds and the more intimate parts of life we share with others. Cancer specifically applies this energy to our sense of home - be that the physical home, our internal sense of home, our families and those who we feel at home with. Cardinal in nature, Cancer moves energy, projects, matters of all kinds forward. Certainly a good chariot driver would be able to emotionally attune to their animals, keep their cool when things need to be while also making sure things move along (even if that means moving along to rest), be aware of how far they can encourage and push while knowing limits. Easy to imagine this as solid mothering energy, as well as fantastic energy for a coach.
One of my favorite examples of queer/questing Chariot/Cancer archetypal overlay and this archetypal mother/coach is the character Blanca from the television series Pose. Pose was a very moving television series about the black trans ballroom community of the 1980s and early 1990s in New York City. Blanca’s character is a BIPOC trans woman choosing to be house mother; she provides a home for LGBTQIA+ BIPOC youth rejected by their families and living on the streets. This ever evolving family-of-choice performs together in the weekly balls, which entails creating complex dances with costuming and themes. Blanca’s strength and sensitivity are deep and exquisitely intertwined. She is attentive, tracking diets to make sure folx are eating enough, staying away from drugs, keeping conversations open with regards to the housemates’ intimate lives, encouraging career development, and preparing dances for the balls. Blanca does this all full with a full heart of love, continually nudging situations along through every piece of adversity and discrimination she and her house family encounter.
I have been writing these Major Arcana / Astrological Zodiac overlay posts and then writing about corresponding planets moving through the zodiac sign at the time of writing and aspects being formed to each ruling body. Cancer is the natural ruler of the Moon. With no current luminaries, major asteroids, or ecliptic points in Cancer, I’ve chosen instead to focus on writings about the New Moon in Aquarius and how that energy develops into the following day.